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Omelet with Asparagus

A fried egg omelet mixed with boiled asparagus, seasoned with pepper and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Omelet with Asparagus

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the asparagus until tender, then chop the green ends finely.

  2. In a bowl, mix the chopped asparagus with the beaten eggs.

  3. Heat the clarified butter in a frying pan.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, sprinkle with pepper and salt.

  2. Fry until the omelet is a nice brown and about 1 inch thick.

  3. Serve immediately with vinegar and butter for seasoning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Asparagus + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into the structure of the omelet as they cook, holding the asparagus together.
Asparagus
Adds vegetable flavor and a tender texture to the eggs.
Clarified butter
Fat for frying that browns the surface and prevents sticking.

The step that matters

Fry until the omelet is a nice brown and about 1 inch thick. Cooking over heat that is too high browns the outside before the egg in the centre sets, while too low a heat leaves it wet and pale. Clarified butter tolerates higher heat than whole butter, which helps browning without scorching.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Asparagusthe original
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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